Rolex 24 Hour 8: Corvettes run 1-2-3 at the 1/3 mark

The Taylor/Angelelli Corvette DP is now out front

Ricky Taylor in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP holds a narrow six-second lead over the No. 5 Action Express Racing entry of Sebastien Bourdais with eight hours complete in the 53rd Rolex 24 at Daytona, as TUDOR United SportsCar Championship competitors head into the cold night time hours.

Taylor got around Bourdais through the bus stop chicane after the Frenchman locked up the brakes of his Corvette DP late in the hour.

The Corvette DP of Westbrook/Valiante/ Rockenfeller/Cosmo runs in third.

The No. 02 Chip Ganassi Racing Riley-Ford DP of Tony Kanaan runs in 4th, rebounding from a splitter change in the seventh hour that initially put the car one lap down.

A subsequent nose change for the car, and two further cautions, put Kanaan back on the lead lap and in contention again.

The top-six Prototypes now run on the lead lap, including the No. 01 Ganassi entry, which had dominated the opening hours but lost ground once Charlie Kimball took controls. We do not know what the issue is.

CHEVY QUOTES

CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI, NO. 5 ACTION EXPRESS RACING CORVETTE DP
HOW WAS YOUR OPENING COUPLE OF STINTS?
"My stint was OK… nothing special. I would say my second stint was a lot better. We made some tire adjustments and had a much stronger pace – just as strong as the leaders but maybe the leaders although the leader was slightly quicker than I was. Then we decided to double-stint the tires, which at this point in the race wasn't the right decision. After five to 10 laps, I was a sitting duck for the most part. I just had to finish the stint so we didn't lose much time. But we have (Sebastien Bourdais) in there on new tires and it's going well."

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
HOW IS IT GOING IN THE SECOND YEAR WITH THE CORVETTE C7.R AT THE ROLEX 24?
"Last year we weren't too bad in the Corvette C7.R, but we definitely were not in the position we are now. We have a good car for here at Daytona. In practice, we took some wing out of it, and it is paying off here. We are not very good at the high-speed stuff, and in the Bus Stop we aren't very good, but we can make that time up on the straightaways. It lets me be really racey with everybody else which doesn't matter right now, but later on in the race, that will mean a lot. A promising start for sure."

HOW DICEY IS IT OUT THERE?
"It's calmed down quite a bit. The early laps of my first stint were pretty hectic, but it's calmed down quite a bit which is good. Usually at nighttime everyone gets their time in the car, so everyone definitely had the first stint jitters and excitement. In the second one, people calm down quite a bit. I feel good, the car feels good. Now it is time for Simon (Pagenaud) to have some fun for awhile. Let him get used to racing pretty hard in GT class. I know he races hard in IndyCar but a little bit different here in sports car racing. You can bang fenders a little bit if you want to. We haven't banged any fenders yet, but it's been close."

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 10 WAYNE TAYLOR RACING CORVETTE DP
HOW HECTIC WAS YOUR FIRST COUPLE OF STINTS?
"I'm shocked every time we get to one of these races because I'd say the diversity in talent is pretty drastic. You come up on one guy and you know he's going to do, and you come across another and you don't know what he's going to do. These first few hours are about getting to know everyone on track again and know which cars to look out for. We were almost caught out a couple times early with guys spinning and pulling out in front of us. It's hectic out there, but it's the same for everyone. Right now, I'd say we have a top-three car. I think our car and Ganassi are pretty close. Having said that, we've had problems all week but our guys have worked overnight all week and fixed the electronic issues during the race. This is the best we've been all week."

AFTER EVERYTHING THE TEAM HAS BEEN THROUGH AND THE FIRST STINT RICKY DROVE TODAY, COULD YOU BELIEVE YOUR CAR IS WHERE IT IS RIGHT NOW?
"It is a combination of ECR Engines and our guys. We have some real geniuses on our team. It's a team effort. There were up until 11 or 12 last night and up until 2 the night before. We have a lot of confidence in the world in them. We thought going into it that they had it figured out. They did some electronic testing last night and thought it was figured out. The race went green, and Ricky had the same issues. We thought we were going to be in the same boat all weekend. We saw a new piece of data, plugged the laptop into the car to send a fix in. Thankfully the car is the best it's been and hopefully we can keep it up near the front."

HOW HARD IS IT TO MAIN A RHYTHM WHEN YOU STEP ON THE THROTTLE NOT KNOWING HOW IT'S GOING TO RESPOND?
"It's difficult. Practice and qualifying was tough. Practice was touch because we didn't know what the issue was, so we kept traction control on. You'd go to power exiting the corner, the rear would be supported and all of a sudden it would turn off and you have snap-oversteer. There are places where you didn't want it to jump out at you. Ricky qualified without TC because he knew it would be consistent. But now having it, we're having to readjust our driving styles to drive with traction control. It's a different style."

WITH THE NIGHT FALLING, ARE YOU PLANNING TO DRIVE IN A DIFFERENT WAY THAN IN THE DAYTIME?
"I'd say today and at night we will drive the same way, which is as cautiously as possible. Come daytime tomorrow and in the early morning, we'll still be kind of calm and not to take too many risks. Right now, there are a bunch of guys who don't really know what they're doing. I don't want to sound mean, but I was down in first gear going into the Bus Stop a couple of times going near pit speed. It's just shocking that they're out there. It's scary out there. If you're at the Dogleg at 140-150 mph and they hit the brakes, you're not expecting it and it can cause some big issues. Hopefully throughout the night we can figure out who to look out for. We have great spotters looking out for us. We'll try to get it figured out for in the morning."

RYAN BRISCOE, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
IS THE CAR AS GOOD NOW AS IT WAS IN PRACTICE?
"Yeah, it was good. With my first set of tires, the temperatures had dropped quite a lot and the pressures were probably a little too low. I was struggling a little bit but then we bumped up the pressures and the car really came to life. I had some really fun racing out there. We have good speed and good handling. It's exactly what we want right now."

SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
HOW FUN WAS THAT?
"It was great. The Corvette C7.R is going really well. I was going flat-out every lap. The difficulty is to judge traffic and how to deal with it. I'm really impressed with the GT Le Mans class and how competitive every car is and the drivers. It's a constant battle and a lot of fun. The car will get better with each stint. Right now I am happy. There were no crashes or damage, so that's the most important part – to put the car in a good place so my teammates can do the rest."

Hour 8 Standings